57 minutes ago, nealmac said:

I just bought it for €42. Absolute bargain as far as I can make out.

 

26 minutes ago, RudiJG1 said:

That's a terrific price for a fantastic aircraft add-on.

Yeah yeah, rub it in...

Just now, J van E said:

 

Yeah yeah, rub it in...

Sorry Jeroen, buddy. In my defence, I'm usually in the same boat as yourself. I recently bought REX Texture Direct with Soft Clouds, and today it just went on sale. I was due a bit of fortune 

IMHO the Q400 is one of the best addons for any sim.... probably second after the FSL bus in opinion.  If anybody reading this thread is considering buying it I strongly suggest the Pro version.   

 

1.  The WXR in the pro version works with AS16... in the pilot version it's a cloud finder

 

2. The hud

 

3. The option to use the high fidelity controls.. yes it's a pain to setup but makes a huge difference in feel.  It really brings out the wonderful flight model of this plane.

 

only downside to the majestic product is kind of a personal one for me and maybe none of you will ever have a issue but I had a pretty bad experience with their customer support.  

 

Long story short I found a problem, they acknowledged it... 6 months go by and a patch comes out it does not get fixed... then I am told it's not a big deal ( customer service no no... never tell the customer that) then they tell me they may fix the problem in a future patch, I was irritated because that could be many months then they said it could be fixed  at the end of the project.... 

I am far from being a programmer but this bug did not seem like something that would be hard to fix. so in my opinion they basically told me to F off....   I tried to play nice at the end thinking maybe I could get them to fix it by being nicer about it but nope...  anyway, I skipped buying it for p3dv4 and that's a shame, because I loved the plane and I was a release day customer for both the pilot and pro version.

 

1 hour ago, mikea76 said:

...only downside to the majestic product is kind of a personal one for me but I had a pretty bad experience with their customer support.  

Long story short I found a problem, they acknowledged it... 6 months go by and a patch comes out it does not get fixed... then I am told it's not a big deal ( customer service no no... never tell the customer that) then they tell me they may fix the problem in a future patch, I was irritated because that could be many months then they said it could be fixed  at the end of the project.... 

I am far from being a programmer but this bug did not seem like something that would be hard to fix. so in my opinion they basically told me to F off...

I fully appreciate them for making support available through their forum by way of very quick responses.  But their attitude often has a very pompous and condescending tone to it.    I think they went to the 'we have a monopoly on a great product' school of customer service so figure why bother 'courting' their customers.  And they're right--the product is good enough to sell itself even w/ this customer service philosophy.  One of their regulars, I don't know if he was employed by Majestic or just a self-appointed forum expert on this and that w/ the plane.  His handle was 'Snave', which I opined was a portmanteau of 'Snotty Nave'.   

1 hour ago, mikea76 said:

Long story short I found a problem, they acknowledged it... 6 months go by and a patch comes out it does not get fixed... then I am told it's not a big deal ( customer service no no... never tell the customer that) then they tell me they may fix the problem in a future patch, I was irritated because that could be many months then they said it could be fixed  at the end of the project.

It never feels good to feel ignored, but that aside it's a software development / timing issue.  One of the reasons the Dash 8 has been so successful is the disciplined approach to software development, which was greatly stressed by the release of a 64 bit simulator which required the aircraft to be completely re-written.  So why not just fix it in the re-write?  Moving from 32 to 64 bit, one wants to stay with one knows works without injecting even more variables - as enough things are already not going to work as planned and changing something always breaks something else.  In short, one person writes to code at Majestic, and he can only due so much.

Oleksiy (the owner and sole coder) is a close friend of mine whom I speak with almost daily and worked with constantly over the 6 year development of the Dash 8 (it actually took 8 years, and we only communicated here and there for the first two years as the aircraft wasn't test ready).  I've never met anyone who cares more about their product than Oleksiy.  During all those years, I would report bugs that I thoguht were serious and yet wouldn't be resolved for several months.  Again, it's that disciplined approach to development.

Oleksiy will be giving the community a look at the Dash 8 Training version LIVE this Saturday during the OVPA 2017 Flight Sim Web Conference, which I hope you will all join us for.  You can find more information about the Web Conference on the AVSIM Front Page.

 

 

4 minutes ago, Noel said:

 I think they went to the 'we have a monopoly on a great product' school of customer service so figure why bother 'courting' their customers.

I've never seen this, but in truth I haven't been on the Majestic forums in a very long time.  If it's Oleksiy responding then it may well be a language issue. Oleksiy is from the Ukraine and while he speaks English (and his native tongue, Russian and Portuguese) it's not always perfect.

 

Thanks to all the Dash 8 supporters out there.  I likely have the third most hours in the Dash of anyone and i never, NEVER get tired of flying her, especially in Shared Cockpit.

 

Best wishes to everyone.

5 minutes ago, DaveCT2003 said:

especially in Shared Cockpit.

Interesting--briefly, what is it?

3 minutes ago, Noel said:

Interesting--briefly, what is it?   Oops, I'll google it and see.   

What, Shared Cockpit?  The capability of sharing the aircraft with another person.  You can do this with the Dash 8 Professional and Training versions, as well as add a third party observer (who is limited to observing).  There simply is no more realistic way of flying an airliner or better means of teaching someone how to operate an aircraft than Shared Cockpit, and it's the most fun I've had in Commercial Aircraft Flight Simulation - especially on VATSIM.

We have a Shared Cockpit forum here on AVSIM if you're interested.

Best wishes.

 

With Thanksgiving today I didn't have much time to try out my Q400.  But I followed the sample flight and had the engines running and FMS programmed by the time I had to leave for work.  The sounds alone are amazing!  The windows fogged up but there's probably a switch for that somewhere.  Anyway I got the tiller working (is there a way to config taxiing with my rudder pedals?) and taxied around a little , and basically turned the lights on and lined her up and paused the sim.  That's where I left it - look forward to flying after I get home from work (yay to working thanksgiving bleh)

56 minutes ago, Noel said:

One of their regulars, I don't know if he was employed by Majestic or just a self-appointed forum expert on this and that w/ the plane.  His handle was 'Snave'

lol Snave was not an employee of Majestic AFAIK .  He has garnered a well deserved reputation on several fora for his distinct and rather sarcastic short and unempathetic responses (and thats being diplomatic!)

Personally I rather liked him, you just needed to take his posts in the right way.....

However, dont punish yourself by not buying it, or conflate his attitude with Majestic, because of snave, he's just a user like yourself... :p

1 minute ago, kevinfirth said:

lol Snave was not an employee of Majestic AFAIK .  He has garnered a well deserved reputation on several fora for his distinct and rather sarcastic short and unempathetic responses (and thats being diplomatic!)

Personally I rather liked him, you just needed to take his posts in the right way.....

However, dont punish yourself by not buying it, or conflate his attitude with Majestic, because of snave, he's just a user like yourself... :p

Yeah, the only two people in the forums from Majestic is Simone (aka krosswind) and Oleksiy (aka Boss).

 

 

 

 

Old Snave, wish he would take up golf.... nah, maybe not, he may just throw golf balls instead of words. Ya gotta love him, don't ya? I remember him from years ago on the Aerosoft forums, sure gets around.

anyone know how long this sale will last?

2 hours ago, DaveCT2003 said:

It never feels good to feel ignored, but that aside it's a software development / timing issue.  One of the reasons the Dash 8 has been so successful is the disciplined approach to software development, which was greatly stressed by the release of a 64 bit simulator which required the aircraft to be completely re-written.  So why not just fix it in the re-write?  Moving from 32 to 64 bit, one wants to stay with one knows works without injecting even more variables - as enough things are already not going to work as planned and changing something always breaks something else.  In short, one person writes to code at Majestic, and he can only due so much.

Oleksiy (the owner and sole coder) is a close friend of mine whom I speak with almost daily and worked with constantly over the 6 year development of the Dash 8 (it actually took 8 years, and we only communicated here and there for the first two years as the aircraft wasn't test ready).  I've never met anyone who cares more about their product than Oleksiy.  During all those years, I would report bugs that I thoguht were serious and yet wouldn't be resolved for several months.  Again, it's that disciplined approach to development.

Oleksiy will be giving the community a look at the Dash 8 Training version LIVE this Saturday during the OVPA 2017 Flight Sim Web Conference, which I hope you will all join us for.  You can find more information about the Web Conference on the AVSIM Front Page.

 

 

Hi Dave,  it was not even the problem that bothered me,  or even that it did not make the cut to be fixed... it was the it’s not a big deal attitude...  nobody likes to hear that their problem is not a big deal,  and to be told that they are dealing with more important issues only to look at the release notes and see things relating to the exterior app sound was fixed but not a issue that happens while flying.  

 

i spent 15 years working in car dealer service departments and dealt with lots of angry people and a lot of times the anger was amplified by the customer feeling like nobody cared about his or her problem.

 

with that said it’s a wonderful plane and whoever coded it is very talented and I would certainly recommend the product. I was just not happy with the way my situation was handled.  

Hi, Mike...decades ago when I started my Chevy line mechanic career, I was asked to check window leaks for a customer. He had a S-10 and when he washed the vehicle water always leaked in a bit when he hit the driver side window (from about 4 inches away). Stupidly, I pointed out the fact that it was an S-10 and not a Blazer or Caddy. Dealership owner reamed me a good one and almost fired me. Speaking before not thinking can absolutely ramp up the animosity.